In the eyes of his critics, Rousseau\'s ideas, especially those governing the general will, are the source of totalitarian conceptions of democracy which seek to force people to be free. For his supporters Rousseau carefully identified the conditions of a workable and free democratic society (even if he had sexist blindspots) and cannot be blamed for the abuse of his ideas at the hands of Jacobins and Bolsheviks. BO\'L

See also liberalism.Further reading M. Cranston, , P. Riley, The General Will Before Rousseau: the Transformation of the Divine into the Civic.